Architecture fabricator Branch Technology claims to have built the world’s largest 3D printed structure. Made from carbon fibre–reinforced Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, the 42-foot-wide, 20-foot-tall structure weighs around 3,200 pounds and was printed in 10 weeks. It was designed following Nashville building code standards, with the ability to withstand 1 inch of ice buildup, up to 12 inches of snow and 90 mph of wind load.

According to plans from the early design stages, the pavilion’s shape and volume was going to require an obtrusive steel structure to support its load, tripling the project cost. By working with Thornton Tomasetti’s R&D incubator CORE Studio, they used an open-cell structure, optimised to eliminate any needs for extra steel reinforcement.

By using Branch Technology’s Cellular Fabrication (C-Fab) 3D printing technology combined with in-house and aerospace software programmes, 40 panels were printed off-site and assembled once in the structure’s residing place.